Let me start by quoting something I said recently in another thread — a post that resonated with over 40 others:
"Seems like they are creating the game THEY want to make, not what the players want."
Now, I could go on endless tangents nitpicking past decisions, but let’s focus on what’s relevant — As in just this week alone, which drives home the overall message I'm making.
A. The Season 17 trailer tease:
Let’s be honest: the community’s reaction to this trailer has been one of the most underwhelming I’ve seen in the game’s history. Sure, a few players seem excited, but the overall sentiment? Outright negative, And I do mean that, something which I have not seen before. and that needs fixing. Urgently.
The Smuggling theme feels off, who are we smuggling exactly? Other pirates? As if that is a new thing suddenly? The content appears to be recycled, merely re-skinned under a new label.
And yes, there’s a new explosive. Cool. But let’s not kid ourselves — it just looks like a mega keg with a fresh coat of paint. Is that really going to shift gameplay in any meaningful way in the sandbox? Unlikely. Players aren't going to magically start fighting each other when kegs are in play. The contrary. Look at the past 7 years for proof...
Also it doesn't look like to be a new faction. Not that it would personally change my current opinions...
So the question is: are RARE going to continue acting stubborn, or will they finally listen to the player base and reconsider their direction? What happened to everything Rare promised in "The Voyage of a Lifetime" documentary for the game's 5-year anniversary?
That video came across in hindsight as little more than a well-polished marketing tactic designed to keep players emotionally invested. It gave the impression that the studio was deeply in tune with its community, committed to evolving Sea of Thieves alongside player feedback, and genuinely listening to what people wanted from the game’s future.
But what we’ve seen since then feels like a complete 180. A scummy tactic (Sorry but it just does).
So many of the things that were implied, or even directly stated in that documentary haven’t materialized. Instead, we’ve watched as highly requested features continue to be ignored, while updates focus on content and systems that barely anyone in the community asked for.
B. Today's Pirate Profiles Announcement.
This one really raises eyebrows.
Why are preset cosmetics, a basic quality-of-life feature still not in the game after SEVEN years?
In a game where cosmetics are the entire progression system, it’s baffling. Dare I say: Insulting.
The ability to save cosmetic loadouts is not a niche request. It’s consistently one of the top asks across all community channels — Reddit, Discord, YouTube, Twitter, and these very forums. This should’ve launched at the very least alongside the Captaincy update 3 years ago starting this August...
Yet here we are. Scratching our heads on what they are doing over at Tywcross HQ.
Are you just not doing your jobs correctly? WHO ASKED For pirate profiles just to ease in creating alt accounts, yet alone making it a paid subscription? Pathetic, Link me to a thread in suggestions about this. Custom/Private servers should be paid, that I would agree with.
Are the CM that watch these threads just spewing nonsense to the Development team to put in the game pretending it's what players want? Sure feels like it?
Instead, we get Pirate Profiles — which, according to the devs, is aimed at easing the creation of alt accounts for roleplaying purposes as one mention in the video. Seriously?
Who asked for this?
I’ve played this game religiously since launch and can count on one hand the number of genuine roleplay encounters I’ve had, if that. Remember when Sea Fortresses were touted as being rich in RP elements, like sitting in chairs and such? How often have we seen players actually use that? Exactly. Yet they seem so disillusioned to keep pushing the ''roleplaying'' narrative. It's sickening and out of touch.
Meanwhile, the competitive community — which was significantly larger than the RP crowd, got axed without hesitation, swept under the rug, and a massive gaslighting campaign that I don't even want to start on that topic. Once again, out of touch.
It feels like Rare is obsessed with pushing a roleplay narrative that simply doesn’t reflect how the majority of the player base actually plays the game.
And let’s be honest, roleplaying in Sea of Thieves is lackluster, which is odd considering how much they double down on it. With only four players per crew, and limited server interaction, the odds of organically encountering roleplayers who use voice chat, speak your language, and want to engage are minuscule, in my experience, less than 0.1%.
Conclusion:
We keep hearing that “the devs are listening,” and that community managers pass along our feedback. So here it is, as clearly as I can put it:
If you’re actually reading this, and many of us are starting to doubt that you are: Do better in communication.
Stop sidelining the dedicated players in favor of niche ideas that serve a small minority, or worse, internal goals that don’t align with the community’s needs. (As what my quote really is about above).
We love this game. That’s why we care. But we need to feel like that love is reciprocated — not ignored. Give the players what they’ve been asking for. Stop creating the game in a vacuum. Whilst pretending that's what the players want. You can fool the masses, but the ones like me who engage with a variety of players in multiple sub-communities, we are dumbfounded by these upcoming content changes, and quite frankly have been for the past few years.
